DEWA CHE Foundation

Dechen Shak-Dagsay is a Tibetan Artist who has been living in Switzerland since her childhood. Her family was amongst the first Tibetan refugees to settle in Switzerland after escaping from Tibet in 1959. She feels privileged to have a strong Tibetan background although she never lived in Tibet. Her father, Dagsay Rinpoche a highly respected Tibetan Lama from Chokri in the Eastern Part of Tibet and her late mother Yishi la have had a great influence on Dechen's musical development. Already as a small girl she loved the traditional Tibetan songs she learned from her mother and later she discovered the beauty and positive effect of the spiritual Tibetan Mantras.

Dechen began to perform professionally the rendition of Tibetan Mantras in her own style in 1999 when she was asked by Robert Wilson from New York to open one of his plays with the Tibetan Mantra "AMIDABA". Over the last 14 years she released more than 10 albums two of them being a wonderful collaboration with the legendary Mrs. Tina Turner. Her music started to spread internationally and sold more than she ever expected. The current album "JEWEL" has been produced by Helge van Dyk and is a masterpiece of presenting the essence of ancient Tibetan Mantras to the western world. Philip Glass invited her to perform the title track of this album at Carnegie Hall in New York.

It has always been Dechen's wish to be able to touch people's heart and mind through her voice and the power of the mantras.

In 2010, Dechen together with her husband Dr. Kalsang Shak started a Tailoring School in Tibet, after realizing that there was a big problem for unemployed young Tibetans in the area. After completing the basic school education the majority of the young end up being jobless making them vulnerable to commit crime. Consequently many young people end up in prison putting an immense burden on their poor parents and families. Therefore, in 2010, Dechen and her family decided to initiate the DEWA CHE Foundation that is using parts of the revenues of her music to preserve the Tibetan Culture inside as well as outside of Tibet.